The trailer for the science-fiction Western Young Ones looks really dry

In addition to being the brother of Gwyneth Paltrow and the son of longtime television director Bruce Paltrow, Jake Paltrow has worked as an actor, writer, and director himself, and released his debut film The Good Night in 2007. Now, seven years later, Jake Paltrow is following up The Good Night’s quietly comic contemplation of one pop star’s dream-life with the more ambitious Young Ones—a three-part science-fiction Western set in a future where water is at a premium. Michael Shannon plays a desperate outsider who lives on barren land with his growing, restless children (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee and Elle Fanning), while Nicholas Hoult plays a shrewd young man who offers the family an arrangement too good to be true. Here’s how it all plays out in the trailer:

The trail of the tapeTitle:Young OnesDirector: Jake PaltrowScreenwriter: Jake PaltrowCast: Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, Michael ShannonRelease date: October 17, 2014The entire trailer in one line of dialogue: “You don’t have what it takes to convince those watermen to irrigate this land!”The entire trailer in one screengrab:

I missed Young Ones when it debuted in Sundance—in part because the early buzz there was muted at best. That said, this trailer does show that Paltrow has something big in mind with this movie: a bold genre mash-up, featuring an indie drama cast, shot through with the lyrical quality of Terence Malick. The result of all that mix-and-match could be a complete mess, or it could be genuinely inspired. At the least, Young Ones doesn’t look routine.